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I'm currently on the hunt for books and manuals concerning early boxing or pugilism from as long ago as possible through to the early 20th century. Any suggestions would be welcome, especially online free ones
So far I've read some stuff about Mendoza
Hey everyone, this is a project Iβve been working on called βPugilismβ.
The goal was to create a fun but simple sparring minigame, since one-on-one fist fights in 5e can be somewhat dull if youβre just rolling to hit and applying unarmed strikes. More so than being uninteresting, however, they donβt take into account specific restrictions that would be in a controlled fight: using only (sometimes padded) fists, no hitting below the belt, etc.
Pugilism was an attempt to add some strategic play into fistfighting that loosely emulated these special conditions β like trying to read your opponent, aiming for specific parts of the body and not tiring yourself out. There are definitely some other theories on how to achieve this that can be found out there, but I didnβt find anything quite to my liking β so I made my own!
An important note β while they do get an advantage as outlined in the rules, I acknowledge that the martial classes (Monk, Fighter, Barbarian, etc.) probably donβt have as much of a leg up as youβd expect in a fight against a bookish Wizard. Youβre welcome to tweak the numbers or add special conditions that widen the skill gap, but I set out to make Pugilism more fair by acknowledging a couple key concepts:
- Your combat stats (in my opinion) reflect your characterβs ability to kill or seriously injure a creature with no restrictions. A fighter might be trained to use a sword to stab at any available weak spot in their enemyβs armor, but when placed within the confines of a regulated boxing match, a lot of their training isnβt necessarily as applicable.
- There is an assumed level of general competency with most adventurers. Even a low-level Wizard, who might have an AC of 10 or 11, can still dodge formidable creature attacks if they roll poorly. Our heroes are meant to be more skilled than your average person, so they have a reasonable floor on their athleticism.
Iβm linking to a drive where you can download the cards and the full rules, but the basic rules are as follows:
General Rules
Each combatant has a deck of 13 cards containing 6 attack types, 6 defense types and a "x2" card that indicates using the same attack twice.
Combatants take turns striking each other in an attemptΒ to reduce their opponent's "composure" to zero.Β The first combatant to knock their opponent down twice, wins.
Composure is the only βresourceβ that needs to be tracked, but it is represented in two ways on the attack and defense cards:
Fatigue
... keep reading on reddit β‘Timerion Ironheart, The Wild Ram
Sun High Elf Totem Barbarian, Fighter Initiate Feat (Unarmed Fighting)
Setting is standard fantasy. Swords, magic, dragons, etc.
||Appearance||
Male. Looks 35. 6'4" tall, super muscular build. Blue eyes, short messy blonde hair. Short braided beard. His hands are stained with coal. He has a tattoo of a ram's head on his chest. His forehead is heavily scarred from headbutts.
NO SHIRTS! Wears well worn commoner's pants with leather patches over the knees. He also wears worker boots with steel capped toes. He wears a belt and suspenders, both made of rope. A pickaxe hangs from a loop in his belt. A few dirty rags are tucked into the waist of his pants.
His fighting style takes heavy inspiration from the Brawler and Beast fighting styles in the Yakuza games. Lots of heavy punches, grapples, double dropkicks, and suplexes.
||Personality||
Timerion is a sweetheart. He's a cheery, fun, and caring friend to have. He stands up for what he believes in and for his peers. That said he's also very excitable. His passion for booze, muscle, and loud noises makes him more of a weekend friend than a work day associate.
His ring persona Wild Ram is quite different. Wild Ram is an uncontrollable force of authority and power. He is king of the mountain (the mountain being the arena), and takes any challenge as an insult against him. He is sheer intimidation and strength, backing down from no challenge and showing no mercy.
||Backstory||
Found as an orphan baby on the side of the road, Timerion was picked up by a wandering Dwarven caravan and raised as a Dwarf of Clan Ironheart. Being less naturally strong than his peers, Timerion dedicated much of his time to building muscle. Like the other dwarves of his clan, he got to work in the mines at an early age. But even after years of learning the ins and outs of "cave farming", mining was never his passion. His true joy in life was the lucky chance of a tavern brawl. Growing up surrounded by rough and tough miners, Timerion was always eager to prove he could strike with the strongest of them.
When he finally left home to pursue his dream of competitive pit fighting, he took on the moniker of The Wild Ram. It was a name chosen by his dwarven peers for his untamable nature and thick skull (which is not hesitant to use in a fight).
What is the oldest form of pugilism that involves striking with the knuckles, specifically?
Or anything even remotely similar to modern boxing?
Did knights/ man-at-arms even punch in armor on the incredibly low chance they were disarmed (like in some HMB videos)?
Did knights in everyday wear ever strike with a straight punch or did most people just pull a dagger? I'd imagine they might not have due to the risk of breaking your knuckles if the thought occurred to them. I'm looking for a more in-depth answer to find something to complement studying Fiores' manuscripts.
I've noticed that while there is grappling, the only strikes I see with the fist is a hammer fist. Granted I haven't looked at a facsimile in a while and may have missed something but if anyone can point me to a manuscript that involves striking as I've described, I'd be grateful.
Any recommendations for headgear with a caged mask?
What are peoples experiences with MMA gloves vs just handwraps?
The rest seems pretty standard to boxing in terms of saftey gear.
I have discovered a new way to PvP in the Township. What you do is you go to the little rooftop before you run into the bad guys (be sure to kill off said bad guys before they interrupt your duel) and drop prism stones around it to create the boundaries of a little arena. Then you unequip all your weapons and armor and you and the other naked pugilist off the ledge.
What little minigames have you invented?
Then I was left staring at a pug deep in thought with man hands, feeling quite ridiculous about how satisfied it made me.
I think I'm scared and trying to escape facing the fear -
Implanted negative memories, fear fear fear
If I reject I am the douche;
I am clueless -
When truth is I know,
And acknowledge the hopelessness of worrying about what is destined to be
I still am filled with pity and a touch of dread of what is to come
I'm already repeating the mistakes I'm pointing out,
But in the midst of a yawn I must protest fear mongering is a insert-your-prerogative.
Out of the box into the hall
Out of the room into the mall,
A fall fox fells ferns for a dress for a mess of a lass named
Uh, Shelby. Not the Sally that sold seashells at the seashore, no Shelby sold snails at the refinery where they made glue from horse hooves -
She didn't much like her job and was quite jealous of sally, but times was tough and she hadn't an option under communist regime -
"Hey, when'd this become a political thing?"
Since politics became a meme ya dweeb
And then this nerd proceeded to frown, analyze and look down at his keyboard, looking for the perfect line to write.
And then I shat myself, goodnight.
Like the title says, I want to make a group of 5 nobodies and have them be the quiet enforcers for lawful/chaotic good. . What is the best [Note: Cheesiest] way to do this?
Mostly for Role Playing reasons, Iβm sure you can do more damage with certain weapon builds, but I want them to be the founders of their city [and I truly believe politicians should have to fight to the first blood to get conflicting legislature passed.]
I recently picked up Wasteland 1 Remastered because for some reason I forgot how vague and frustrating this game is. Nevertheless,I am intent on playing it because I feel like it is fun,I just dont know HOW to have fun with it yet. Anyways,I've been searching for about an hour now on why Knife Fight exists,and why my ranger starts with it at skill 1 and has his knife equipped when he has a brawling skill of 2. Knives do the same damage as the crowbar,so what's the point?
A few years ago, I remember I read an old website which depicted a supposed famous pugilist/boxer of the late 19th to early 20th century. Can't even remember his name. All I can recall is reading that, apparently, the guy was so good delivering palm and open hand strikes that those were banned definitely from the sport. I haven't been able to find that website ever again despite searching a lot.
To those who know their history: What degree of truth, if any, is to this claim? Did that guy even exist? Why and WHEN were strikes with any part of the hand other than the knuckles definitely banned in boxing?
Then I was left staring at a pug deep in thought with man hands, feeling quite ridiculous about how satisfied it made me.
I think I'm scared and trying to escape facing the fear -
Implanted negative memories, fear fear fear
If I reject I am the douche;
I am clueless -
When truth is I know,
And acknowledge the hopelessness of worrying about what is destined to be
I still am filled with pity and a touch of dread of what is to come
I'm already repeating the mistakes I'm pointing out,
But in the midst of a yawn I must protest fear mongering is a insert your prerogative
Out of the box into the hall
Out of the room into the mall,
A fall fox fells ferns for a dress for a mess of a lass named
Uh, Shelby. Not the sally that sold seashells at the seashore, no Shelby sold snails at the refinery where they made glue from horse hooves -
She didn't much like her job and was quite jealous of sally, but times was tough and she hadn't an option under communist regime -
"Hey, when'd this become a political thing?"
Since politics became a meme ya dweeb
And then this nerd proceed to frown, analyze and look down at his keyboard, looking for the perfect line to write.
And then I shat myself, goodnight.
